The use of absorbent pads by pet owners to train their pets or to otherwise provide a sanitary location for pets to relieve themselves is well known. The prior art use of such pads, however, has been limited to applications resembling putting paper down for a dog, providing a litter box for a cat in such a way that absorbent devices lay flat on the ground and are designed to catch and absorb pet excrement that would otherwise wind up on the floor.
Many prior art devices have been proposed to aid in the collection of pet excrement or the housebreaking of pets. Generally it is an objective to get the pets to urinate and defecate at a single location on a disposable, absorbent material. The most common approach has been the use of newspapers laid on the floor for a dog to urinate and defecate on. Although newspapers are absorbent, to some extent, alone they are uncontained and easily scattered by a playful or destructive dog. Also, newspapers used in this way are disadvantageous because the pet excrement leaks through to the floor surface upon which it is laid.
Many of the prior art arrangements are concerned primarily with ways and means to secure the horizontal excrement catching device in place to prevent the movement or scattering of the catching device. One such arrangement is a housing made of a rigid plastic material that has a bottom surface that rests on the floor. Short sidewalls extend upwardly from the bottom surface, a disposable pad being placed in the housing on the bottom surface. The pad extends up and over the top of the sidewalls and a rectangular plastic rim is then positioned on top of the pad draped over the sidewalls to hold the pad in place. In this prior art system, removal of the pad for disposal is relatively easy but it has substantial disadvantages. First, the system is costly as a result of the manufacture of custom pads and frames to fit one another. In addition, this prior art device does not always securely hold the pad. Because only the weight of the frame is holding the periphery of the pad, if a pet were to scratch on the pad with its claws, it is possible that the periphery of the pad would become disengaged from between the frame and sidewalls of the tray. Finally, and most significantly disadvantageous compared to the present invention, this prior art system is essentially a horizontal pad and does not provide adequate any vertical absorbent sheet or pad to catch pet excrement such as that emitted by male dogs when raising their legs or cats which “spray”.
To address the problem of securing the horizontal pad, another prior art system utilizes latches to secure the frame to the tray, the portion of the pad extending over the tray sidewalls thus being secured there between. While the frame and pad are more well secured, the addition of the clamps adds significantly to the cost of the system, is time consuming to unlatch the numerous latches, and provides a mechanical component part which is susceptible to breakage. In addition, there is no teaching or suggestion to extend the sidewalls vertically upward to catch excrement emitted from male dogs or cats that will not land on the horizontal pad.
A large number of prior art pet excrement catching devices provide specific methods and devices to secure an absorbent pad to a frame, as discussed above. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,630,376; 6,550,423 and 6,059,247 devices are set forth that provide a perimeter around the absorbent pad and means for securing the pad thereto. In those references the pad is sandwiched by perimeter structure members.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,119, a system for holding a pad is provided in which the pad is secured at the corners by being stuffed into and retained in a plastic disk having radially extending cuts.
In none of the prior art devices is there provided or suggested the need for a vertical extension to the absorbent pad. As a result, the prior art does not recognize the problem or provide a solution for the pet excrement emitted, for example, by male dogs raising their legs or cat spray, even if they do so while standing on the horizontal absorbent device or a box of kitty litter.
There is identified a need for a vertical pet excrement collection device. It is advantageous to provide such a vertical device in at least two embodiments, the first having a frame and being incorporated with and connected to a horizontal collection device. The second embodiment is a vertical collection device that has attachment provisions for securing to an existing horizontal collection device, such as a box or tray holding kitty litter.
The vertical pet excrement collection device identified comprises a sheet of absorbent material held vertically by a frame, with provisions built into the frame for securing the sheet to the frame. Simple and quick removal and replacement of the sheet of absorbent material is provided so that it may be easily replaced.